Blind Dates and Best Friends
by Peace.Love.CSI
Summary: On HIATUS. Sometimes you just want to kill your best friends. Edward and Bella aren't sure how to react when they are suddenly set up on a blind date by their best friends. They both felt something that night, but is anything going to come of it?
1. The Breakup

Edward sat on his couch, thinking back to his life a few months ago. He had been in a bad relationship, too involved in his work, and rarely saw the outside world. Now, he had much more reasonable hours, actually saw his friends and family. And, though he had gotten out of the relationship he didn't want to be in, he had yet to find a new prospective girlfriend. It almost made him wish that he hadn't broken up with Tanya, almost but then he remembered that he would rather chew off his own foot than spend any more time with that woman.

Their break-up had been pretty much inevitable actually. They hadn't really clicked much, even in the beginning. Actually, thinking back on it, there wasn't really that good of a reason he had even agreed to go on a date with her. When he had first met her, she had been completely arrogant and rude, just the kind of girl that Edward usually stayed away from. But, she was extremely attractive and for some reason he just felt drawn to her. So, somewhat reluctantly, he agreed on dinner and a movie. From there everything escalated much faster than what Edward was ready for. They became an exclusive within the first two weeks, and she became clingy. Though instead of her clinginess being a huge turn-off for him, he had taken it as cute, thinking that it was nice that someone was actually committed to having a decent relationship.

The next week Edward had been called to New York for work. When he agreed, he thought he might miss Tanya a little bit, but when he got there, he realized he didn't miss her at all. When his company told him that he would have to stay for at least three months to smooth over some affairs with another cooperation, he was actually relieved that he wouldn't have to go back to spend any time with her. Even the few phone conversations they had ended up making him frustrated and annoyed at the whole 'relationship' thing.

He hadn't thought that a relationship could get worse if two people never saw each other, but apparently it can. And it most certainly did too. But, even though he wasn't fond of Tanya to say the least, he wasn't going to break-up with her over the phone. His mother had taught him to respect women more than that.

Eventually Edward just learned to string the relationship along. He would answer the phone each of the very few times she called, and then listen as she told him all about what had happened to her that week. It worked for him, but he knew that it wouldn't ever work when he had to go back home.

When his boss told him that he had to go home, he had expected to be happy to see his friends, and to just be back home again, but his dread of seeing Tanya again just kept him from being at all excited. He made sure to arrange to have dinner with her as soon as he got off the plane. He could sleep once he was a single man again.

After sitting down in Ruby Tuesday's and ordering drinks, Edward decided to just get right to the point.

"Tanya, I just can't do this anymore. It was never really working in the first place. I didn't mean to string you along while I was in New York, but I couldn't break up with you over the phone."

Her eyes went wide and her face got red. "So, it's better to break up with me, after THREE MONTHS, in a crowded restaurant? Jerk."

She stood up and dumped her diet coke all down the front of him, thoroughly drenching his shirt as well as leaving a nice puddle across his legs and shoes. As Edward just sat there shocked, as she grabbed her purse and stormed out. The waiter, having seen everything, brought the check for their drinks over quickly as well as a few extra napkins. Edward quickly laid down a ten in the bill hold and walked out the door towards his Volvo. After drying himself off as much as possible he got in and drove back to his house.

Now, he was sitting on his couch, trying to think of a decent way to fill the next three weeks. His boss has given him a decent amount of time off, paid, as a part of his payment for spending three months in New York. If he had had a decent girlfriend to come home to, he would have been ecstatic to have the three weeks off. But with no plans at all in the upcoming weeks, even the thought of sitting around all day was making him glum.

Oddly enough, as he was wishing for anything to do tonight, his doorbell rang. Jumping up he moved towards the door, quickly unlocking it and opening it to reveal his two best friends.

Emmett, one of his best friends sine elementary school, was tall, burly and quite a scary looking-fellow if you'd never experienced his signature teddy-bear side before. On the other hand, Jasper was tall, skinny and looked like the kind of man you could just walk up to and strike up a conversation with. He had just recently met Jasper, through Emmett's girlfriend Rosalie actually, but they had become fast friends.

"Hey man. Welcome back from New York. How was the big apple?" Jasper questioned as he walked in and plopped down on the couch.

"Good, but I'm glad to be home. I missed my friends."

Emmett looked at him, "Not your girlfriend? Just us?"

Edward sighed. "Well actually, ex-girlfriend and no. I didn't miss her one ounce while I was in New York."Jasper snickered and Edward punched him in the shoulder. "Hey! Just because you and Alice have had such an amazing relationship since 10th grade, doesn't mean you can make fun of my relationship deficiency."

"Well, actually, I think that as your best friends we have that right. And, I think that we have the right to try and resolve the issue. Don't we Jazz?" Emmett asked in a conniving tone that meant he was surely planning something.

When Edward started to protest Emmett just cut him off and started talking again. "As your best friends Edward, it is our official duty to make sure that you have a decent lady-friend at all times."

With a roll of his eyes Edward turned his attention toward the still-empty kitchen. "And how exactly, do you plan to fix my relationship issues ?"

"Easy, we're going out to a club tonight." Jasper announced with a smile.

"Rose and Alice are coming." Emmett added. " Plus, they're bringing another lovely lady that they think you'll like."

Edward tried to refuse, he had wanted to get out, but he wasn't sure that he wanted another date already. Emmett and Jasper insisted though, and soon enough he was sitting in Emmett's jeep, clad in a pair of dark wash jeans and a blue and black button up shirt.

"So, where are we going?" Edward asked with a sigh.

"It's a new club. Moonlight or something like that. The owners play all this really cool music."

"And who is this girl that I'm being set up with?"

Jasper and Emmett exchanged a look. They seemed to be fighting with their eyes until Jasper finally spoke up. "Well, actually we don't know. She's a friend of both Alice and Rosalie though, so she has to be a nice enough girl. If anything, she'll keep you from being the odd man out tonight."

Edward groaned. "Great. I don't think I've been on a blind date since like 11th grade when I went out with Molly's sister for a copy of her Geometry homework."

Emmett's boisterous laugh filled the car and he had to wipe the tears from his eyes. "Oh, scary Cindy. She woulda been a keeper Ed."

Edward shuddered dramatically. Then paused for added effect, but then quickly changed the subject back to tonight's date. "Do you even know this girls name?"

Jasper piped in again. "Her name's Bella. Bella Swan."


	2. I'm tired of being single

Bella jumped from her spot on the couch, where she had been wedged reading, when she heard the three hard knocks on her apartment door. Tossing her book on the coffee table, she moved towards the front door as it was opened by an impatient Alice. She would have been surprised had this not happened more than a few times since she'd become friends with her.

After looking over at her best friend she just sighed. The look on her face said that she was definitely up to something. Something that she would more than likely not enjoy, being a tester for one of Alice's new hairstyles, being dragged through the mall in search of new outfits that she would more than likely never wear, or the very worst- going clubbing.

"Bella!" Alice sang. "Rose and I are going out tonight, and you're coming."

She shook her head weakly, knowing that she wouldn't be able to change Alice's mind anyway. "I'm in the middle of a new book."

"Bella, it's Saturday night, and you've read Wuthering Heights more times than I can count. You're definitely coming with us."

"Where are we going?" She sighed.

"To a club. Jasper and Emmett are going to be there. Plus one of their very attractive, very single friends who is apparently just your type, will be there." She said, trying to sell Bella on the idea of a club.

"Alice, I hate clubs. And I don't want to meet any guys."

Bella didn't know why Alice and Rose kept trying to set her up with new guys. They had tried to set her up with a new guy at least once a month for the past two years. And when their prospective guys managed to ruin any chance they had with her, they already had their next candidate picked out. The sad thing is that all of the guys that picked were decent men. Though, not all of them were exactly what she was looking for.

At one point they had actually managed to ask out one of her colleagues, Andrew, behind her back. He was relatively attractive and he was a real sweetheart. When he was asked out by Rosalie, for Bella who was 'extremely shy', he readily agreed. The time and place was agreed on right then, and Bella was told about that date without idea who she would be going out with. Bella reluctantly agreed and when she arrived at the restaurant and saw who she was supposed to be on a date with, she turned around and left again. Andrew was married, and he had been for 9 years.

He had been a real winner, but he wasn't even the worst date her friends had set her up with. Jacob Black, even the name made her shudder, was by far the absolute worst. On the first date, things were going pretty well and he seemed promising, good hygiene, well dressed, relatively attractive and he was a nice guy. On the second and third date he had taken her out to a carnival and then to mini golf. He was so much fun, and he was actually someone Bella could see herself with for more than a few dates. A month passed by. Then two, and finally they had been together almost a year. Alice and Rose were so proud that she had finally thought who Bella had thought was 'the one'. The day of their one year anniversary, she walked into their apartment after getting groceries to make him a romantic dinner and found him having sex with another woman on their bed. That night she packed up everything she had moved into his house in New York the month before, and headed right back to her home in Forks. The plane ride was filled with tears that shouldn't have even been shed over him, and her heart was truly broken over a guy that cheated on her. And though she was done with Jacob Black, she still couldn't bring herself to date someone else, and she had told Alice and Rose that every time they'd tried to set her up since then. It had only been about five months, but after too many turned down guys they had just stopped trying.

Tonight had been the first offer she'd gotten since then, and Bella was thinking about accepting it just so that she could say she was truly over him. At 24 she was more than ready to have a husband and kids, or at least a nice steady boyfriend that hopefully wouldn't cheat on her.

Taking a deep breath she told Alice, "But I don't have anything nice to wear to meet a new guy."

Alice squealed and Rose who was walking throw the now open front door shot a look at her before smiling. "Bella agreed to come tonight?!"

A huge smile crossed her face and she nodded. "She even asked me to help her pick something to wear tonight because she wants to look good for Edward."

Rose looked over at Bella totally surprised that Alice hadn't somehow convinced her using methods of extreme torture, but Bella just shrugged and let a small smile come to rest on her face. "I'm done with being single."

Alice clapped her hands and Rosalie gave her a hug before ushering her into the huge bathroom down the hall.

"So, we need to leave in about an hour because we're meeting the guys at Moonlight at like 7:00." Alice explained, before turning to Rosalie and trying to formulate a plan for Bella's hair and make-up tonight.

"What is she wearing?"

Alice left the room for approximately 30 seconds, before returning with an entire outfit, shoes and accessories. It was a moderately low cut sky blue tank top, a pair of dark denim skinny jeans, and sky blue flats that matched the tank top perfectly.

Bella gasped. "Alice, I love it! And you're not even making me wear heels!"

Alice smiled. "Well, since you willingly agreed to come tonight, and we are going dancing, I figured that I could give you a small break. But I expect you to flirt like a pro tonight, and flaunt it girl."

With a small laugh she nodded, and turned back towards the impatient Rosalie who was currently curling her brown hair into thick curls that cascaded down her back, the front held in place with a black flower clip to match the necklace currently resting around Bella's neck.

Within a half hour, both Bella's make-up and her hair were finished. She was dressed, and she had to admit that she looked really good. Her make-up wasn't too heavy, and her hair looked perfect thanks to Rose.

Walking into the living room to grab her purse and the keys to her Royal Blue Camry, she looked at the clock and gasped. Hearing her Alice spun around, "What?!"

"You did all of this in a half hour?" Bella asked in surprise.

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "That's what happens when you're not fidgeting and protesting the entire time."

Bella smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. But, do you want to grab something to eat before we head to the club?"

"Let's go to Taco Bell!" Alice yelled.

Laughing, Bella and Rosalie agreed and after locking up the house, all three of them got into Bella's car and headed towards Port Angeles for the night. Hopefully something good would come from tonight, and maybe Bella wouldn't be single for much longer.


	3. Moonlight

Moonlight was a new club, just opened by a thirty-something guy who was into rap and hard alcohol. The club was so new that all of the lights covering the name on the front of the building still glowed bright and correctly spelled out the clubs name, Bella noted. There was a line of about 25 people stretching from the entrance to the corner of the street, but surprisingly Alice and Rosalie led Bella right past the bouncer and into the crowded club. As soon as she walked through the doors, her hope that it wouldn't be that bad disappeared, it was going to be that bad and worse.

Bella sighed, and hearing her Alice turned around and glared at her. "What is wrong with you? We haven't even been here 2 minutes."

"Of course this is going to be a bumping and grinding kind of club, filled to the brim with people who think of one night stands as fun."

Alice shot her a glare. "You were so excited to come here earlier. What happened to that?"

Rose heard the conversation and leaned in. "Plus, you haven't even met your mystery date yet." She wiggled her eyebrows and Bella laughed.

"Fine, fine. I'll keep my judgments about the bumping and grinding to myself, until I meet this boy."

"Are you saying you wouldn't mind bumping and grinding with your mystery date?" Alice asked, her arms crossed and her eyebrow slightly raised as a smirk covered her face.

Bella looked at Alice and had to laugh. Then she looked up, serious. "Actually, bumping and grinding with my mystery man is exactly what I wanted to do tonight. Thanks."

From behind her she heard Emmett's booming laugh, Jasper's snickering and an unfamiliar laugh that wasn't altogether unpleasing. She turned around and her cheeks burned. Standing behind her was Emmett, Jasper and the guy she assumed was her mysterious man. Edward, as she recalled Alice had said. She met his eyes, shocking green and shining with laughter. She held his gaze for a few moments before looking him over, subtly trying to hide it. Her eyes raked over the rest of his face, noting his smile as well as his gelled bronze hair, and then over his body. Without a doubt, he was perfectly toned and gorgeous.

At the same time, Edward appraised the woman he'd be stuck with tonight. Though, at first glance she didn't seem like she'd be half bad to be stuck with. In fact, he had to admit that she was downright gorgeous. She had shiny brown hair and eyes to match. Her cheeks were blushed in embarrassment, and he had an urge to try and keep it across her lovely face.

He looked over her shoulder quickly to see that both of his friends, as well as their girlfriends had moved to the dance floor. Smiling he looked back at Bella who looked up at him and met his gaze. "Would you like to go sit down, or try some of that bumping and grinding you wanted to do tonight?"

Bella blushed, but kept her gaze steady. "Whichever you'd prefer is fine."

Edward smiled at her. "How about we go and sit down for a while. Maybe have some drinks before we go out there and uh, dance."

Bella rolled her eyes. "This is not music, and that is not dancing."

"Agreed." Edward smiled at her. "Screaming is not making music."

"Finally, someone who understands that. Alice and Rose blare that, crap all day and then complain when I try and play something decent, like Debussy."

Edward's smile widened. "You like Debussy?"

She nodded. "Claire De Lune is my absolute favorite since I was a little girl."

Surprised, Edward turned his head from where he had been trying to find an open table back to Bella. "That's my favorite too. It was one of the first songs I learned to play on the piano."

"You play the piano?"

Edward nodded excitedly and his eyes lit up as he talked about his passion. "Oh yeah. I've played since I was four. It was just something my mom was forcing on me, but then I realized what a piano can do, and how beautiful the music it makes can sound when you've learned a new song, or composed something and finally gotten it just right."

Bella nodded. "I'm not much of an instrumentalist, but I love music in general. All the different styles and beats, I sometimes get lost in it all."

"Not an instrumentalist, do you sing?" He asked, prying deeper to try and prolong the conversation.

She blushed. "I sing to myself quite a bit. Alice and Rose have heard me, but not too many others. I don't think that I'm very good, but they tell me otherwise."

Edward grabbed her hand and squeezed. "You're probably absolutely amazing, and too modest to admit it."

"Maybe I'll let you be the judge of that." She rubbed her thumb over the back of his muscular hand just to feel the sparks run through her arm again. "I usually only sing in the shower, but I think that I could make an exception for you if you really wanted. And if I'm going to sing, you have to play the piano."

"Of course I'll play for you. You'll probably be one the few I've played for that would know the difference between something I've composed and Debussy."

"That's so impressive that you compose your own stuff. That's got to be really hard."

Edward smiled at her, thinking that composing a new song tonight wouldn't be too difficult. He had his inspiration right in front of him. "Well, when you sing, sometimes you make up lyrics right?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I've written a few songs."

"It's exactly the same, well actually your song-writing process is probably harder as you have to come up with a pitch and notes as well as words."

"I guess, but sometimes it just comes to me. When I'm dancing around my room to some song, listening to those words and that beat, I get an idea to write something of my own. Take the day's memories and write them down to sing to whatever rhythm comes to mind."

She blushed a deeper shade of red when she realized what she'd told him. She barely knew him and yet here she was having a conversation, talking to him and telling him things that she hadn't even told Alice and Rosalie. She looked down at the ground for a second, but took a deep breath and looked back up at Edward.

Sensing her awkwardness he tried to change the subject. "Wow this music is horrible."

Bella had to stop for a second and listen to it, she had been so absorbed in Edward she hadn't even heard the music and the pounding bass. "I agree. Some of these songs were okay before they got put into a club mix. They add the same bass line to 10 songs and turn that up so loud you can't hear the original beat and call it the best club mix of 2009."

He was smiling at her, his expression shining in what seemed like true happiness. After a second, his expression changed to a mischievous smirk. "Now that we've both established that these club mixes are dreadful excuses for music and the dancing is going to be dirty, do you want to go dance?"

She rolled her eyes. "Do I have another option?"

His smile returned and his eyes twinkled with the perspective of doing something meaningful with Bella, rather than standing in the lobby of the club. "Well actually, what if we left here, and I took you to one of my favorite places in the whole wide world?"

"How are we going to get out of here? We'll end up leaving either your friends or mine stranded and I can't do that to Alice and Rose." She told him with a slight sigh.

"If you don't mind walking about three blocks, my apartment is just down the road." When she blanched at the offer, his mind spun for a second before realizing it. "Oh! Bella sweetheart, I'm not taking you back to my apartment. We were just going to pick up my Volvo, our destination for tonight is just a bit farther than my apartment and I wouldn't make you walk that far."

Bella thought about his offer for a second, and while her mind was telling her that she shouldn't leave the club with a man she hardly knew, her heart was telling her to go and not look back. He might be too good to be true, but she could enjoy it while it lasted, even if was only for a night. She looked up and him and gazed into his eyes. All of her possible protests about his character dissolved when she looked up into those eyes. They say that eyes are a window to the soul, and if that's the case then Edward's soul must be beautiful. "I guess it's a good thing Alice let me wear flats tonight, let's do it."

Surprised by her sudden response after her silence his eyes shot up to scan over her face. "Really?"

"Really. Let's go, right now. I'll text Alice and Rose and let them know that we're leaving." She looked up at him and Edward couldn't help but notice the blush on her cheeks, and the glimmer of excitement in her eyes as a wide smile graced her delicate features.

He didn't need to ask her again. He grabbed her hand and swung it between them for a moment before walking toward the door. He looked at her one last time before pushing open the club's door and squeezing her delicate hand lightly. "Let's go."


End file.
